Charles Krauthammer has jokes for the conservatives who don’t like his criticism of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s defund Obamacare tactics.

The syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, speaking Thursday night at the Media Research Center’s annual gala, made light of the attacks leveled against him this week for his skepticism of Cruz’s efforts as he also called on conservatives to “keep your spirits up as we careen our way to hell in a handbasket.”

Ten minutes into his acceptance speech for the conservative media watchdog group’s William F. Buckley Jr. media excellence award, Krauthammer told the crowd gathered in downtown D.C.’s JW Marriott hotel that “I could go on, indeed I told [MRC’s founder and president Brent Bozell] that I intended to speak for 21 hours and 19 minutes — but I brought the wrong shoes.”

It was the first of many moments in which Cruz’s marathon speech was invoked throughout the evening. Krauthammer also touched on the attacks he’s received this week in some conservative circles for his criticism of the Texas Republican’s anti-Obamacare tactics. Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, for example, has knocked him for his work in the 1980s for Democratic politician Walter Mondale and has also said he is one of the establishment elements of the Republican Party who has “taken out the long knives and tried to destroy the handful of conservatives” in D.C.

Krauthammer on Thursday night joked that Bozell gave him the award only after hearing that the political commentary show he’s been a regular panelist on, “Inside Washington,” was going to close shop after 25 years. “With a lightning calculation in his head, he realized to his horror that that means I have spent 1,200 consecutive Fridays with [NPR’s] Nina Totenberg,” Krauthammer told the crowd.

“Now, I’m told by my staff when Ted Cruz heard about this award, he immediately sent me a congratulatory message wishing me 1,200 more Fridays with Nina Totenberg,” he added later. “Mark Levin sent a similar message, suggesting if I were to retire, say, tomorrow, there might be a job opening with Walter Mondale.”

The annual gala brought hundreds of conservatives to D.C. to “skewer the most preposterous, excruciatingly stupid, and downright hysterical instances of liberal media bias,” as the media watchdog group put it. Throughout the three-hour affair, which also featured a three-course menu for guests, media figures were bestowed with “DisHonors” awards — such as the “Dan Rather Memorial Award for the Stupidest Analysis” and the “Damn Those Conservatives to Hell Award” — in addition to the night’s more serious accolade given to Krauthammer.

Unlike the media excellence winner, the “DisHonors” recipients unsurprisingly didn’t show up to accept their prizes, but Utah Sen. Mike Lee, congressional candidate Mia Love, SiriusXM’s David Webb and former senator and current president of the Heritage Foundation Jim DeMint stepped in this year to do the honors.

Krauthammer, meanwhile, also used his speech to thank President Barack Obama, “his entourage and his acolytes” for providing so much material for the guests to mock over the course of the evening.

“It’s been a tumultuous week in Washington, but looking at the broader picture I think we can all here agree on how indebted we are, we in the conservative media, to our beloved president, his entourage and his acolytes,” he said. “Never have so few given so much — material that is — to so many.”

Krauthammer kept it light throughout much of his address, with quips such as “I’m very happy to be among old friends — but the truth be told, I’m just happy to be anywhere where Juan Williams can’t interrupt me,” but he also took a moment to offer up some advice for conservatives.

“I wanted to say, especially to the young people here, keep your spirits up as we careen our way to hell in a handbasket,” he said. “And just remember, it’s always darkest before dawn. And then it’s darker still. But do not lose your youthful optimism.”

Journalist and author Jonathan Alter emerged as the night’s other bigger winner for his commentary on MSNBC in Aug. 2012 about Obamacare, which earned him both the “Damn Those Conservatives to Hell Award” and the overall “Quote of the Year” prize.

Lee accepted the “Damn Those Conservatives to Hell Award” for Alter, who was honored for his comments on “The Ed Show” that “repeal equals death. People will die in the United States if Obamacare is repealed” and that the Obama campaign “can bring death into the conversation and say, ‘No, we’re not calling Mitt Romney a murderer, what we are saying is that if he’s elected president, a lot of people will die.’”

After Bozell introduced the Republican senator as “the heart and the soul of the conservative movement,” the crowd gave Lee, one of the leaders of the defund Obamacare effort, a standing ovation and he offered up another stab at the night’s recurring joke about getting started on a 21-hour, 19-minute speech before leaving the stage.